Friday, June 1, 2007

Sour grapes

People are so ignorant.At least that's what I hope. Because if they're not ignorant than they're just plain anti-Israeli.On the way home today, I came across a house which was displaying the following poster on a front window.It shows a shrinking "Palestine" in green in 1946, 1947, 1948-1967, and 2005 alongside a growing Israel. "Israel speaks of peace, but takes the land". No context, no history, no facts.Context, History and Facts:1946:"Palestine" as such does not exist. It is a region, much like the Sahara is a region and not a country. The British Mandate of Palestine. The green mistakenly covers a very large portion of this "Palestine" as if to say that no Jews even lived there.1947:Partition plan, voted on by the UN on November 29th. Plan accepted by the Jews. Plan rejected by the Arab population. Revolts started against the Jews in order to stop them from creating a state in the Jewish part. They were getting prepared to launch a war once the British were to leave.Palestine is still a region and not a country.1948:May 14th, the State of Israel is born and the British Mandate of Palestine is over (in the opposite order). In its "birth speech" as I like to call it, Israel extends a hand to its Arab citizens as well as to its Arab neighbors, in hope of a peaceful start. Arab states launch a war against the newborn state, in the hopes of pushing all the Jews to the sea and not having an Israeli state. They lose. Territory is conquered. They complain that they lost and would like to go back to the way it was before they lost. Because if it had been them who had won the war and had made Israel vanish, they would have agreed to pretend it never happened and go back to square one. Sore losers.Palestine is still not a country. In fact, documents of that period do not refer to the local non-Jewish population as "Palestinian" (since that meant anyone and everyone living in the British Mandate of Palestine), but as Arabs. The green blotches on the map are Egypt on the left side and Jordan on the right side.1967:Unhappy with Israel's existence, Arab states launch yet another war against Israel, in the hopes of pushing all the Jews to the sea and not having an Israeli state. Israel finds out in the nick of time and launches preemptive attacks, legally recognized as self defense. Arab states are caught off guard. They lose. Territory is conquered. They complain that they lost and would like to go back to the way it was before they lost. Because if it had been them who had won the war and had made Israel vanish, they would have agreed to pretend it never happened and go back to square one. Sore losers.Israel accepts resolution 242 which included returning some of the territories back to the original "owners" which are Egypt and Jordan. Not Palestine, since that country still doesn't exist and never had. The reply is the famous (though not to everyone apparently) "three no's". No peace with Israel, No recognition of Israel, No negotiations with Israel. Palestine still doesn't exist. For the record, the PLO - Palestine Liberation Organization - was created in 1964. 3 years before territories were "occupied". So what did they want to liberate exactly?2005:(I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that the poster was printed before the disengagement, even though we are now 2007 and that gives them plenty of time to take down that poster and buy/make a new one).After incessant attacks from terrorists on Jewish settlements, Israel decides to unilaterally disengage from the Gaza Strip. Settlements are dismantled (because Jews are not allowed to live in future Palestine apparently) and Gaza is entirely in the hands of the Palestinian Authority. The territory is no longer "occupied".Palestine could maybe finally start to exist.No. Palestine still does not exist. What exists is daily Kassam rockets being fired into Israel. What exists is the Palestinian government factions fighting and killing each other. What exists is a Palestinian people who still haven't got a state, as any people willing to have a state should deserve. What exists is the constant fact that for some obscure reason, Israel is blamed for this.

I remember the house number. I could send them explanations, or easy to read posters (they seem to like that) and pamphlets about Israel. But they won't even bother to read. I think. Should I send?

Why a Grouch?

The world does things and says things which make me grouchy. People are not coherent, people are not rational, people believe other stupid people. I am a person in need of a platform where I can express myself freely, without needing to fear that I seem unpolitically correct. I would like to keep my friends, so I avoid expressing all this in front of them. Though I seem grouchy, I actually am a nice person. I can even be taken out in public without biting people.